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I'm an experienced user of 0% purchase cards which I pay off at the end of the promotional term. Must have been doing this for 3 years or so. In January I took out a NUBA card from MBNA with a deal for 30 months interest free on purchases and balance transfers. I applied for this using MSE's credit card eligibility checker and all went well. In July I applied for another card - also from MBNA and also offering 30 months interest free. In September I started using it, but noticed a small interest charge on my October statement. My November statement now shows an interest charge of £25. Strange I thought, as I pay off the minimum by direct debit - as I have done with so many other cards in the past.

So I contact MBNA and find this... in the small print is a clause which states that whilst the card is interest free on purchases for 30 months - that only counts on purchases made within the first 3 months.

I have both MBNA card contract booklets and acceptance letters and they are identical save for this very small detail. This second card with the new style of "30 months interest free" headline but actually only meaning on the first 3 months purchases was also made through the eligibility calculator. I've just gone through it again and it does not state anywhere the extra terms.

Frankly, I feel stupid for not treble-checking the details - I'm normally financially savvy. However, in this instance the text is not obvious.

I am raising a complaint with MBNA and will also contact MSE about their tool and this new type of catch. As I've never seen it mentioned before, just thought I'd share so others can check their card details. Thanks.

He doesn't say he BT'd though, he might only be using it for purchases.

OP - cards are categorised as being for BTs, MTs or purchases. It is quite common for a primarily BT card to also offer a short period (say 90 days) of purchases at 0%. MBNA will offer different types of cards with different deals. I think you quite simply applied for the wrong type of card - a BT one instead of a Purchases one.

From what I can see they must have withdrawn that card and it's terms and replaced it with a 28 month interest free card, which seems to be both BTs in the first 60 days and purchases at any time during the 28 months - there's certainly no obvious time limit to purchases.

Well I raised a complaint as I also have a MBNA Nuba card and the documentation is virtually identical, save for a small piece of text around the 0% on purchases only being for those made in the first 60 days.

MBNA have now come back to me and, much to my surprise, are going to refund the interest. I have cleared off the balance of the card and will be closing it in due course.

I'm an experienced user of 0% purchase cards which I pay off at the end of the promotional term. Must have been doing this for 3 years or so. In January I took out a NUBA card from MBNA with a deal for 30 months interest free on purchases and balance transfers. I applied for this using MSE's credit card eligibility checker and all went well. In July I applied for another card - also from MBNA and also offering 30 months interest free. In September I started using it, but noticed a small interest charge on my October statement. My November statement now shows an interest charge of £25. Strange I thought, as I pay off the minimum by direct debit - as I have done with so many other cards in the past.

So I contact MBNA and find this... in the small print is a clause which states that whilst the card is interest free on purchases for 30 months - that only counts on purchases made within the first 3 months.

I have both MBNA card contract booklets and acceptance letters and they are identical save for this very small detail. This second card with the new style of "30 months interest free" headline but actually only meaning on the first 3 months purchases was also made through the eligibility calculator. I've just gone through it again and it does not state anywhere the extra terms.

Frankly, I feel stupid for not treble-checking the details - I'm normally financially savvy. However, in this instance the text is not obvious.

I am raising a complaint with MBNA and will also contact MSE about their tool and this new type of catch. As I've never seen it mentioned before, just thought I'd share so others can check their card details. Thanks.

You're not alone here. I'd consider myself experienced as well but got caught out. I'll admit to not reading everything and focussed on the 0% term but I'd never came across anything like that before so wasn't expecting it.

I had been reading up on the account again whilst waiting on the card and documentation when I realised. 3 months was pointless with no large purchases planned and a large limit tied up.

I waited for the documentation to arrive to double check it and once confirmed I phoned up and closed the account before activating the card.

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